The invention relates to a selector device preamble of Claim 1.
In a known selector device of the type disclosed in German Patent Document DE 14 98 498 U1, the manual selector lever is mounted pivotably in a radial bearing bracket at the upper end of a selector tube mounted rotatably on the steering column of a motor vehicle and is coupled by its end projecting into the selector tube to a flexible actuating linkage which is routed through the selector tube and leads to a changeover plate which is arranged in the change-speed gearbox and is guided in such a way that it can be displaced parallel to the selector shaft between two changeover end positions. Each of these two changeover end positions is assigned a selector gate having two speeds in the selector pattern of the manual selector lever, the changeover plate being actuated by pivoting the manual selector lever into its respective changeover end position about a pivoting axis of the bearing bracket, said pivoting axis being perpendicular to the axis of rotation of the selector tube. In this known selector device, the lower end of the selector tube is connected kinematically to a multi-part remote selector linkage which leads to the change-speed gearbox and is there connected kinematically to the rotatably mounted selector shaft, which actuates a gear clutch for the engagement or disengagement of one of the speeds associated with the selected selector gate directly or indirectly by means of a selector cam fixed to the said shaft in terms of motion when the manual selector lever is pivoted about the axis of rotation of the selector tube and thereby causes the selector tube and inevitably with the latter also the selector shaft to rotate. In this known selector device, the split into a selector shaft and a changeover plate at the gearbox-side input of the selector device means that a precise gear change is not always guaranteed, and this split can also lead to difficulties as regards to the suppression of vibrations excited by the engine. Moreover, relative movements in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle of the engine/gearbox unit, which is situated at the front in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle, and the vehicle body, on which the manual selector lever arranged behind the gearbox is held, are transmitted unfiltered to the manual selector lever, and this can lead to vibrational movements during the starting of the engine.
German Patent Document DE 93 08 072.2 U1 has disclosed a selector-lever housing of a different generic type for mechanical motor-vehicle gearboxes, in which a fastening device intended for attachment to body components, an actuating rod used to transmit gear-change movements, a supporting rod and a manual selector lever operatively connected to the actuating rod are provided. In order to design a selector-lever housing of this kind, the mounting of which on the body or other parts of the vehicle frame is configured with a view to simple damping or decoupling of vibrational movements of an associated gearbox, a housing body to which the supporting rod is attached, in which the actuating rod is mounted in such a way that it can be displaced in the direction of its axis and can be pivoted about its axis, and on which the manual selector lever is mounted, is to be provided in the case of this known selector-lever housing, the fastening device being formed by a mounting plate connected to the housing body, with at least one spring element arranged in between.
European Patent Document EP 0 448 526 A1 has disclosed another remote selector device of a different generic type for connecting a manual selector lever to a change-speed gearbox of a motor vehicle, in which a first actuator for choosing the gears and a second actuator for selecting the gears are each arranged within the gearbox, and, to avoid the transmission of vibrations and noise entailed by the use of a remote selector linkage that transmits both the changeover and the selection movements, the changeover actuator is coupled to the manual selector lever by an intrinsically rigid selector linkage, and the selector actuator is coupled to the manual selector lever by a flexible selector linkage.
Finally, European Patent Document EP 0 699 853 A1 has disclosed an actuating device of a different generic type for controlling gear changing in a gearbox of a motor vehicle, which actuating device is spatially separated from the gearbox and in which the selection and changeover movements are transmitted to the gearbox by two selector rods or two selector cables, and in which a selector lever for choosing the selector gates and selecting the gears, a device for returning the selector lever to a particular neutral position and at least one resistance device for influencing the actuating force involved in choosing the selector gates are provided. In this known actuating device, a locking device to secure the positions of the selector lever in selector gates is used to ensure that the driver receives haptic confirmation of the completion of the gear change when selecting the gears in the selector gates.
The object of the invention is to essentially prevent as far as possible the occurrence of vibration, i.e. low-frequency movements and structure-borne noise, in a selector device of the type stated at the outset while making the selection sequence more precise.
In the selector device according to the invention, three connecting elements are used between the change-speed gearbox and the mounting of the manual selector lever, namely a remote selector rod between the selector shaft and the manual selector lever as a first connecting element, a flexible changeover actuating linkage between the selector shaft and the manual selector lever as a second connecting element, and a coupling linkage between the mounting of the manual selector lever and the gearbox casing of the change-speed gearbox as a third connecting element, with the result that both low-frequency engine vibration is decoupled and the transmission of high-frequency vibration to the mounting of the manual selector lever is prevented. In the selector device according to the invention, the engine vibration which occurs when the engine is started is not converted into selection or changeover movements of the manual selector lever because the latter is mounted on the coupling rod, which is connected to the engine and can be supported with the ability for limited movement in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle relative to the vehicle body. In the selector device according to the invention, spherical joints can advantageously be used for the connections of the remote selector rod and the coupling linkage to the change-speed gearbox or gearbox casing because the changeover action is transmitted to the change-speed gearbox by the additional connecting element, the changeover actuating linkage, which is connected to the central selector shaft. In the selector device according to the invention, the coupling linkage can be supported relative to the fixed body component in such a way that reaction forces occurring in the transverse direction of the vehicle cannot affect the manual selector lever.
Configurations of this selector device according to the invention which have been explained above, and further advantageous configurations of the said device, form the subject-matter of the subclaims.